My water pump hose failed today. The one that runs parallel to the block from the water pump to the water rail under the intake manifold. Massive spilt that runs almost the full length. I was trying to keep up with my father in-law in his Honda S2000 and I gave it a kick down and high rev. Seems that caused a big enough pressure spike to blow it apart.

Thankfully I noticed the low level light and pulled over just as the temp guage started to move up so I'm hopeful I won't have any overheating damage.

I replaced this hose under 4 years ago (66k km / 41k miles) and had only inspected it a couple of weeks back and thought it was still in good condition and I'd give it another 6months.

Given this seems to be a common occurrence with this hose if you've been thinking of replacing this hose, do it asap. And if you haven't been thinking of replacing it, you should be. I'm considering fabricating a section of stainless steel pipe and joining each end with a short section of silicon hose. This hose cops the full pressure of the water pump and can't cope with enthusiastic driving!

 

I don't suppose you would happen to know the part number of that hose would you ? seems like a sensible idea to have one on hand at least as a standby.

 

 

Thanks for that, I was having some difficulty finding it for some reason ! I can see why you went for non genuine too !!

 

Marke, the idea of running a stainless steel tube seems like a good idea and got me thinking about a possible other solution, how about a stainless or even aluminum tube of the correct diameter and length inside the rubber hose? That way would only require 2 clamps instead of 4. A tube with a very snug fit inside the hose would prevent pressure blowouts. The length of the tube would have to be measured very accurately so you would only be clamping the rubber of the hose on each end. Just an idea.

 

You could run a stainless hose for that matter (probably would need someone to manufacture it for you)

 

 

What about a "better" hose?

I don't know that using an internal metal tube would really protect the hose from failing as the pressure would still be uniform within the hose. And although people love silicone hoses these days, I've seen quite a few get cut by clamps or just made poorly more for fashion than durability.

This hose is in an unfortunate location, especially for XJR owners, so it would indeed be ideal to make it "indestructible".

Just looking around, I've seen a number of manufacturers that make hydraulic hose up to 2 inches that support several thousand PSI. And I've had some racing fuel lines over an inch in diameter that push on to AN fittings without a clamp that I swear will outlast any vehicle they are installed upon. I think the hose on the X300 is somewhere between 2.5-3 inches? So I wonder if there is some very heavy duty hose that could be used that would be far over-engineered and never fail in this application?

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